


The First Time

by ghost_malone



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Confessions, Cuddling, Cuddling & Snuggling, Developing Relationship, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, M/M, One Shot, Relationship(s), Short, Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-20
Updated: 2019-01-20
Packaged: 2019-10-13 10:58:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17486864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ghost_malone/pseuds/ghost_malone
Summary: Hanzo gets a much-needed lesson in cuddling.





	The First Time

"You're kiddin'."  
  
"I am not."   
  
_"You're kiddin'."_ _  
_   
"I already said I am not!" Hanzo snapped, a rosy color tracing the curve of his cheekbones. His fists clenched tightly on his lap. He shot Jesse a silencing glare but softened when he saw the dumbfounded look frozen on his face.   
  
He wasn't just teasing, he realized. Jesse McCree was genuinely shocked.   
  
Rattled somewhat, Hanzo reached for his drink and hastily brought it to his lips, stalling for a second to compose himself.     
  
"Is it really so hard to believe?" He grunted finally, keeping his eyes averted.   
  
"That you've never cuddled before?!" Jesse cried, launching himself forward, waving his cigar wildly to match his horrified outrage. _"Ever?_ Not even a hug? It's not hard to believe, it's _impossible._ I think you're full of shit."   
  
Hanzo rolled his eyes, setting his glass on the coffee table once more. "It is as I told you,"  he assured his companion, "Genji would sleep in my bed as a child after the occasional nightmare… but that is it."   
  
"Christ alive." Jesse breathed. "No wonder you kill people."   
  
"Jesse."   
  
"I mean this really explains _a lot_ about you."   
  
_"Jesse."_   
  
"How could you go your whole life and not get hugged _once?"_   
  
Hanzo considered the question, swirling the whiskey in his glass as he thought.   
  
"I was groomed for the assassin's art from a very young age." He answered evenly. "Most of my time was spent training or accompanying my father on business trips. I was almost exclusively in the company of old Japanese men."   
  
His eyes wandered to Jesse again. "We are not a terribly affectionate breed to begin with." He admitted, finishing his drink. "But my father discouraged such closeness. Detachment from people makes killing them easier, you see."   
  
Jesse sat in silence, watching Hanzo shift uncomfortably under his eyes. He knew it was rude to stare but what else could he do? Hanzo was 38 years old and no one had ever hugged him. No one. Not even once.   
  
Jesse couldn't think of a period of his life where he ever lacked physical touch. Even in his loneliest years of Blackwatch, he could easily recall a cornucopia of memories of hugging, giving and receiving friendly claps on the shoulder, squeezing hands in reassurance, falling asleep in an exhausted dog pile of fellow agents. The stark contrast between himself and the man across from him was so profound that it left him touch-starved on Hanzo's behalf.   
  
"Was our kiss your first, too?" He blurted finally, softening when Hanzo began to blush again. It was endearing how easily flustered he got.   
  
The assassin looked away. His gaze suddenly grew heavy and somber.   
  
"No." He mumbled. "There was one before you."   
  
Jesse worried the edge of his cigar in thought. It was tempting to pry but he’d been there before and had no luck. He knew bits and pieces. A childhood crush of Hanzo's youth. Forbidden puppy love with an abrupt and traumatizing end. It was a secret kept so deep inside him that not even Genji knew the details, something Jesse found out when he tracked him down to grill him about it.   
  
The cowboy sat back and set his cigar in the ashtray in front of him, reaching for his drink instead. He drained it quickly and poured himself another.   
  
"Do you want a hug right now?"   
  
Hanzo peered back at Jesse over the rim of his glass. He studied the other man through narrowed eyes.   
  
"Is it you who's kidding now?" He ventured teasingly.   
  
"I'm serious as a goddamn heart attack." Jesse insisted, leaning forward again. "Hanzo, people hug! It's normal. For Chrissakes, Genji and I have hugged. Dozens of times. Even back in the day, when he was just about as well-adjusted as you are."   
  
Hanzo looked away, keeping his head low. His shoulders relaxed but a familiar knot formed between his closely knitted eyebrows as a battle of conflicting feelings raged inside him. It was a battle Jesse was becoming increasingly familiar with. Their closeness defied everything Hanzo had ever believed or been told about himself. He thought his feelings were evil, somehow, a deformity or handicap. It hurt to watch him reconcile with the realization that those things weren’t true.

“Genji has always had an ease with people.” He confessed finally. “He is likeable. It is one of many things we do not have in common.”  
  
Smiling with a warm sympathy, Jesse scooted around the coffee table to sit shoulder-to-shoulder with Hanzo, who bristled beside him. When he didn't pull away, Jesse wove an arm around his shoulders and gently pulled the other man toward him. He smiled wider when Hanzo surrendered to the rearrangement of their bodies, though the deep scowl on the other man’s face gave away his begrudging uncertainty about it.   
  
"If I'd known all this earlier we probably wouldn't have started with second base." He said with a playful snicker. "Live and learn, I guess."   
  
Hanzo snorted derisively but began to relax, settling gradually against Jesse's body.   
  
"What do I do now?"   
  
Jesse reached for his cigar and sat back, resting against the front of the couch, squeezing Hanzo's shoulders and pulling him closer.   
  
"Get comfortable." He mumbled, letting his eyes drift closed, soothed by Hanzo's warmth. "Just relax."   
  
Hanzo's frown relaxed into something more thoughtful. He shifted silently beside Jesse before settling back against him, legs outstretched and hands in his lap. With a nudge of encouragement, he rested his head in crook of Jesse's neck. Jesse pressed his cheek against the top of Hanzo's head.   
  
The two sat in silence together for a moment, both men relaxing, growing sleepy from the shared warmth and the effects of alcohol blooming within them. Jesse had been hesitant to sit on the floor earlier. Now, however, tipsy and holding the man he'd recently found himself utterly smitten with, he began to doze off.   
  
"So?" He murmured to keep himself awake. "How is it?"   
  
"I expected more, honestly."   
  
"You're a real smartass." Jesse commented, cracking open an eye to catch the playful smirk on Hanzo's face.   
  
"It's... comfortable." Hanzo admitted. "I see the appeal."   
  
"And this is just the tip of the iceberg." Jesse told him eagerly. "Wait'll we get to spooning."   
  
Hanzo chuckled softly. Jesse beamed at the unexpected sound, swelling with joy. A subtle smile teasing the archer's lips.   
  
"I can feel your heart racing." He said.   
  
It was finally Jesse's turn to blush. He grinned, amused to be caught in his moment of infatuation.   
  
"I'm just happy." He admitted, stubbing his cigar out and reaching for Hanzo's glass. He handed it to the other man before grabbing his own, holding it up.   
  
"Cheers to us." He said warmly. "And to making up for lost time."   
  
Hanzo frowned, puzzled. "Lost time?"   
  
"You bet. You're a good thirty-plus years behind on hugs and kisses and such. We got a lotta ground to cover."   
  
Studying Jesse for a moment, Hanzo smirked and touched his glass that of the other man's, sipping it delicately while Jesse downed his in one swallow.   
  
"I’m afraid you have your work cut out for you." He countered.   
  
"I'm willin' to take that bullet." Jesse told him.


End file.
